1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a single use lancet assembly which is substantially compact, yet effective for piercing a patient's finger or other body part to obtain a blood sample. The single use lancet device is further configured to be substantially safe, preventing re-use of the device after it has been actuated, by way of a single use trigger assembly that is structured to assure that subsequent use of a contaminated lancet tip cannot occur. Additionally, the assembly is cost effective and is fully disposable after a single use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lancets are commonly utilized instruments which are employed both in hospitals and other medical facilities, as well as by private individuals, such as diabetics, in order to prick or pierce a patient's skin, typically on a finger of a patient, thereby leading to the generation of a blood sample which can be collected for testing. Because of the wide spread use of such lancets, there are a variety of lancet devices which are available for utilization by patients and/or practitioners in a variety of different circumstances.
For example, a typical lancet may merely include a housing with a sharp piercing tip that is pushed into the patient's skin. More commonly, however, lancet devices, which house a piercing tip and/or a lancet, have been developed which effectively encase and fire the lancet into the patient's skin, thereby eliminating the need for the person taking the sample to actually push the lancet tip into the skin.
Within the various types of specialized lancet devices, one variety are typically configured for multiple and/or repeated uses, while another category is particularly configured for single use, after which the entire device is disposed of. Looking in particular to the single use, disposable lancet devices, such devices typically include a housing which contains and directs or drives a piercing tip into the patient's skin, and which is disposed of along with the used lancet. Naturally, so to make such disposable devices cost effective for frequent use, such devices tend to be rather simplistic in nature providing only a sufficient mechanism for firing, and not overly complicating the design so as to minimize that cost.
While existing single use devices are generally effective for achieving the piercing of the skin required for effective operation, such single use, disposable devices typically do not incorporate a large number of safety features to assure the safe use and disposal of the device. For example, one primary area of safety which must be addressed with all lancet devices pertains to the purposeful and/or inadvertent reuse of a contaminated lancet. Unfortunately, most currently available single use lancet devices are configured such that after a use thereof has been achieved, it is possible for a patient to re-cock the device, thereby allowing for a subsequent, inappropriate use.
As a result, it would be highly beneficial to provide a single use lancet device which is substantially compact and disposable, can be manufactured in a substantially cost effective manner, and which nevertheless is substantially safe to utilize by affirmatively preventing re-use once contaminated. Additionally, while other devices may be provided which prevent a lancet from being re-cocked, it would be extremely desirable to provide an assembly which prevents re-use even if the assembly is re-cocked.